Stranger Things by splash_the

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Story Notes: Category: S/J friendship/romance; Season Seven AU; fluff; humor

Spoilers: "Fragile Balance" (alternate ending for episode)

Really, I started writing a short, funny, fluffy episode insert. Then this happened. Guess the end of the ep bothered me more than I'd thought. Still funny and fluffy though, because well, it's me. Thanks, as always, to Cal and Michelle.

Website: http://www.potameides.com/sgshipfic/
Really, I started writing a short, funny, fluffy episode insert. Then this happened. Guess the end of the ep bothered me more than I'd thought. Still funny and fluffy though, because well, it's me. Thanks, as always, to Cal and Michelle.

Website: http://www.potameides.com/sgshipfic/
splash_the_cat@potameides.com

Daniel: "Stranger things have happened."
Teal'c: "Name but one."
Daniel: "Well there was the time he got really old, the time he became a caveman, the time we all swapped bodies..."
________________________________________

"Stranger Things"

It was just... weird. And given everything that had happened to him in the last seven years, that said a *lot*.

Jack glanced through the window of the passenger side. At him. The other him. Hell, none of them could even decide what to call him.

Eventually, Jack settled on "the kid." Jack knew he hated it, if only by virtue of the fact that Jack would hate it if their positions were reversed. Which they were. Sort of. The kid *was* Jack O'Neill; fifty-odd years of his thoughts and experiences crammed in the body of a fifteen year old.

Thinking about it made his head hurt.

So yeah, "the kid." It gave Jack some measure of much needed emotional distance from his counterpart and muffled the creep factor enough that he didn't feel slightly queasy every time he tried to contemplate the deeply messy consequences of this little Asgard booboo.

Besides, it certainly was better than Carter's lame suggestion of "duplicate O'Neill" or, God forbid, "Jack Jr.", Daniel's not-so- innocent suggestion. His memory might be shot full of holes but his perverse sense of humor had apparently descended just fine.

Jack climbed into the driver's seat and started the truck. The kid didn't even acknowledge him, intent on fiddling with something as Jack pulled out of the lot and drove through the checkpoint, flashing his ID.

Yep. This was just... unbelievably uncomfortable. Why the hell hadn't he made Carter do this? No, he just *had* to volunteer to take him, had to be a nice guy.

Idiot.

"So..." Jack didn't really want to talk to the kid, but he found the silence worse than the thought of a conversation. "New toy?"

"MP3 player."

Jack hoped it was the adolescent hormones expressing themselves. Was he really that surly?

"Sweet."

"Yeah. It's pretty sharp."

So, silence broken. Tension, not so much.

"I'm surprised the Air Force sprang for it."

"They didn't." Okay, why was he smiling all of a sudden? "Carter gave it to me."

Ah. That's why.

The kid finally looked at Jack. And grinned.

"I think she likes me."

"That's..." Crazy. Ridiculous. He was rude and irritating and cranky. Carter'd never put up with-

Right. Okay. Not the best train of thought.

"... nice."

"Yup." The kid settled back in the seat, linking his hands behind his head. And then added, "Even told me she thought I was cute."

Jack's fingers dug into the steering wheel. "Oh?" Oh no. Carter would not... For crying out loud, he was scrawny, and that... that hair, and just *look* at the pimples. What the hell was she thinking? She...

"Well, technically she told *you* she thought you were cute."

... did?

Huh. Well.

How about that?

Jack's death-grip on the steering wheel relaxed and he tried to surreptitiously work out the cramps in his fingers.

The kid shook his head. "You are *pathetic*."

Jack didn't bother to quell the grin he knew was spreading across his face.

"Yes I am."

*****

They fell silent for the rest of the drive, but it had lost its uncomfortable edge. And when they pulled up in front of the school, Jack felt better about letting the kid go off on his own.

Well, almost.

Shifting into park, Jack switched off the ignition as the kid gathered his stuff. "You're *sure* about this?"

The kid shrugged. "We didn't exactly embrace the experience the first time around."

"With good reason. I mean, it was *high school*. All hormones, homework and bad hair."

Jack eyed a pair of giggling girls standing a few feet away from the truck. Dating high school girls. Just not a pleasant thought.

The kid followed his gaze and shuddered. "Oh, *so* not going there. Besides, college isn't that far off."

"College?"

"Yeah. If I can't have my life... well, *your* life back, why not? I mean, from the minute that they told me I wasn't the real Jack O'Neill," he made little air quotes, "DNA aside, we sort of stopped being the same person. Maybe I'll become an astronomer." He grinned. "Or an astrophysicist."

Huh. Maybe the kid had the right idea. How often did you get the chance to live the "could have been"?

"Well, it'd be nice if one Jack O'Neill understood at least every other word that comes out of Carter's mouth."

"Actually," the kid said, "it's sort of Carter's fault."

Did he have to keep calling her Carter like that? "What?"

"This. The high school thing. Thinking about college. Back when I still thought I was me... you... well, you know. Anyway, in her own annoyingly respectful yet blatantly insubordinate way, she pointed out that for all the bitching I do about feeling old, I should try and see this as an opportunity and not suck the fun out of it."

Shaking his head, the kid jabbed an accusing finger at Jack. "She's really starting to take after you. And not in a good way."

And didn't that send a gleeful little shiver down his spine. Jack just grinned, and the kid rolled his eyes.

"Pathetic."

"We've established that."

Opening the door, the kid climbed out and leaned against the truck. "By the way, don't screw it up."

"What?"

"With Carter." He fixed Jack with a pointed glare. "I mean it. Don't make me come back and show you how it's done."

Oh dear God. "We are *so* not having this conversation."

"I knew you were gonna say that."

"Very funny, big guy." He looked so damned young. Jack didn't think it was possible he ever looked like that. "Look. Don't take this the wrong way, but..."

"I won't. Take it wrong. Or be in touch." The kid made a face, one Jack was all too familiar with. "Too weird. You, me..."

Her.

Stupid Asgard.

"Hey," Jack called as the kid turned away. "But if you need anything, call."

"I won't." The kid flicked open his sunglasses and slid them on, doing nothing to hide the sudden shit-eating grin. "But I might call Carter..."

"Oh, for crying out loud!"

Slinging his backpack over his shoulder, the kid glanced at Jack over the tops of the sunglasses before sauntering off under the speculative gazes of the giggling girls. "Later, old man."

The knot in Jack's stomach – the one he'd had since waking up to find Carter, Daniel and Teal'c in his bedroom – unraveled, and he didn't look back as he started the truck and drove off. The kid would be just fine.

And who knew? Maybe the world was better off with another Jack O'Neill.

Stranger things had happened.

END

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